Chapter 5

They all followed Dan Heng as he led the way to the guard room. 

There were a few enemies along the way, but they were easily defeated by Dan Heng and March. 

They soon arrived at the guard room, and as they entered, a grey-haired, dark-skinned young man with an X-shaped scar on the bridge of his nose stood before them. 

"Are you with him?" the young man asked, pointing to Dan Heng. 

"Yes, we are from the Astral Express," said Seven March. 

"I see... Lady Herta sent you to help us?" asked Arlan. 

"The crew came to deliver the artefacts Herta sent us to find, and when we arrived we found the invasion," explained Dan Heng. 

"Why were they targeted by the Antimatter Legion? It seems they were not interested in your planet and went straight for the space station," March 7 asked curiously. 

While everyone was focused on the conversation, Caelus was more curious about his surroundings, so he took a closer look at his surroundings. 

Polished white walls, the floor a shiny metallic grey, polished to a near mirror finish.  

There was no ornamentation, no clutter, just pure simplicity. 

He hadn't noticed it before, but now that there was no rush, he noticed that everything was strange to him, as if he wasn't used to such surroundings. 

As he continued his observation, his gaze landed on a screen used to view what the surveillance cameras were showing. 

There were reflections on the black parts of the screen, caused by the dead angles of the cameras.  

Looking closer, Caelus saw his face reflected on the screen. 

A young, handsome face with grey hair, but through the dark reflection of the screen, what stood out most were his eyes, bathed in a golden glow, they seemed to shine like the sun.  

But that wasn't important, as he looked at his reflection he felt a dissonance again. 

It felt strange, something didn't quite fit. 

Is this me? he asked himself. 

With this question, many more came to his mind like an avalanche, overwhelming him.  

And with each question, his doubts grew.  

My name is Caelus? 

Is Stele really my sister? 

How did I get to this place? 

Am I really in space? 

What were those creatures I saw earlier? 

As he asked these questions, everything suddenly felt strange and distant, as if he was seeing the world from a different perspective, with a more distant view, alien to what it was just a short while ago. 

As if his common sense had changed. 

What I hadn't noticed before now seemed new. What had seemed normal before now seemed extraordinary. 

From the strange creatures he had seen along the way, to the skills and abilities of the people around him, to his futuristic surroundings and appearance. 

Everything felt extraordinary, none of it seemed (normal). 

The mist in his mind, like the veil woven by the hands of a skilled magician, covered his memories like a mysterious trick of illusionism. But though it persisted, he now perceived cracks in its thickness, like tears in the curtain revealing the secrets of the stage.  

Through this haze I caught glimpses of forgotten memories. Fleeting images emerged; the innocent laughter of a child playing with his sister, the bitter tears of a young man who lost everything he loved at the hands of fate, the mask of a man who refused to show his pain, even the vain attempt of a stubborn man to cheat the fate that brought him nothing but death and pain. 

And even though the memories unfolded like scenes from choppy films, where fragments of past moments flashed rapidly, like stills flickering on a constantly moving screen, he knew intuitively. 

This was him, that innocent smile, those bitter tears, that false mask, that stubbornness about the destiny he was destined to live. 

That was him. 

But he ended up in a destiny that wasn't his, in a body that wasn't his, in a universe he knew nothing about, and all alone. 

He sighs. 

He didn't know how he got into this situation, it could have been a deal with a demon who wanted his soul or the whim of a god to relieve his boredom. 

But he did know that the life he had forgotten was one tragedy after another, and that now he had the choice to leave all that pain behind. 

The mist slowly turned crimson like wine, and with it his mind began to sway. 

The drunkenness that was taking over would bring him oblivion if he wanted it, but he wanted to keep these memories with him. Not all of them, but these few were enough to make him feel sure of who he was, sure that he would be able to make decisions he would not regret. 

And as if responding to his will, the mist churned like a raging sea, greedily and effortlessly swallowing the crimson wine that threatened to carry him into oblivion. 

He opened his eyes.  

He saw his reflection in the screen. This time there was no doubt; when he saw it, he knew that he was a poor wretch on whom fortune had never smiled, but who had a new chance here and now. 

But his heart beat with the fear that fate was weaving the plot of his life like a puppeteer presenting the spectacle of a tragedy. 

But he lacks the strength to defy fate. In the face of the vast cosmic machinery, his actions seem ephemeral, like whispers in the wind, his insignificant will standing like a tiny figure before the imposing loom of destiny.  

As if in harmony with the deepest longings of the heart, the mist in his mind lifted a little, like the veils that fall away at dawn, revealing in its mysterious and enigmatic folds distorted images and unintelligible whispers. 

Whispers like the most sinister howl of a beast in the night, slithering like poisonous snakes through the recesses of her mind, filling her with a primal, visceral dread. Each word was an echo of madness, a warning whispered from the abyss, threatening to consume his mind and drag him down into the endless abyss of eternal horror.

He clutched his head tightly, unable to bear the pain, feeling as if every whisper rumbled inside his skull, threatening to tear it apart.  

Yet amidst the storm of mad whispers, he managed to hear one word clearly, like a beacon in the night, guiding those lost in the darkness to the safety of understanding. 

[Seer] 

That word resonated deep within him, as if it were an extension of his own essence, as if in its echo it were intertwined with his destiny, merging into a single heartbeat pulsing in harmony with the forces of the universe.  

In that moment of connection, he felt a power awaken within him. And with it, every whisper that tormented him ceased instantly. 

In a flash of insight, he realised that the latent power within him was the key that would allow him to defy fate.